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[PEACH] Monkey Style (Work in Progress)

05-31-2016, 09:34 PM

Monkey StyleMonkey is a jaunty, skittish style that promotes sudden and random movements to offset their opponent’s balance, both physical and mental. Adherents to its philosophy find themselves loudly confident in their own ability and mocking of all others, insisting opponents prove their worth before the Monkey Stylist ceases playing games. The core of the style is a rigorous training regimen and perfection of the most basic techniques - one cannot be simply arrogant, they must support their own importance by internalizing their craft and carrying it deep in their heart; their confidence comes not from pride, but knowledge and surety in their own abilities, a side of the style very few detractors have ever witnessed.

Monkey Weapons:Monkey Style is incompatible with all weapons and may only be practised barehanded.

Armour: Monkey style may be practised in light armour.

Complementary Abilities: Monkey Style benefits from skills and abilities that enhance the Martial Artist’s intuition and guile as trickery is the foundation of their skills. They also benefit from the mobility afforded by Athletics and Dodge.

Distracted Monkey's CountermeasureCost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1Type: ReflexiveKeywords: Clash, Withering-Only, Terrestrial, MasteryDuration: InstantPrerequisite Charms: NoneThe monkey distracts aggressors by misdirecting their attention away from her swift counterstrike, playing the fool and appearing helpless but returning such aggression to a startled opponent; tripping them up on their own cloaks or bouncing their projectiles back to them. So long as the Monkey stylist has not yet taken any combat actions in the scene, they may activate this Charm in response to any attack targeting them to reflexively make a withering clash, gaining bonus dice to their attack equal to their guile. This bonus decreases by one each time this charm is activated in a single scene.Terrestrial: A Dragon-Blood may only activate this charm up to their Essence times in a single combat, and may not damage ranged attackers.Mastery:Reflexive counterattack and clash charms from any Martial Arts ability do not count as combat actions for the purposes of this charm's limitations.

Foe's Hand Emptying PawCost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1Type: SimpleKeywords: Decisive-Only, MasteryDuration:InstantPrerequisite Charms: Distracted Monkey's CountermeasureA monkey is tricky and crude, but never dishonourable - for that would be a flaw! Their opponents may come at them with weapons in hand but the noble monkey corrects their mistake for them, it's only fair after all. This charm is a special disarm gambit that, if successful, can hurl the target’s weapon out to short range or drive it into the ground, a piece of scenery, or tangle it in something at close range. Retrieving a weapon so embedded or tangled requires a difficulty 2 feat of strength.Mastery:The Martial Artist adds their essence score to the difficulty of the feat of strength to retrieve the embedded or tangled weapon. If the Martial Artist chooses to hurl the weapon away instead, it is flung to medium range.

Panoply as Playground AnticsCost:3m; Mins:Martial Arts 3, Essence 2Type: ReflexiveKeywords: UniformDuration: InstantPrerequisite Charms: Distracted Monkey's CountermeasureAs a monkey swings from branch to branch so too do the weapons of their enemies invite the playful agility of their jungle home, twisting and swinging around their enemy’s attacks with increasing vigor and sense of fun. The Martial Artist may activate this charm in response to an attack targeting them from close range, stripping one initiative from the opponent and granting it to the Martial Artist prior to the attack landing. The amount of Initiative stripped by this charm increases by one for each enemy standing in close range to the Martial Artist.

Monkey FormCost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2Type: SimpleKeywords: FormDuration: One ScenePrerequisite Charms: Foe's Hand Emptying Paw, Panoply as Playground AnticsAdopting the careless grace and confident air of the Monkey the Martial Artist exudes recklessness and abandon in combat, transforming every fight into a child-like game whose rules are known only to the Monkey. Hopping about their enemies, interposing any random scenery in between them and exalting in the frustration they cause their opponents and finding humour in even the most inane exchanges. Upon adopting this form, the Martial Artist makes a (Manipulation + Presence + Essence) roll against all their opponent’s Resolve. Those who fail to defend against this influence are instilled with a minor tie of confused hesitation towards the Martial Artist, taking half the Martial Artist’s Guile rounded down as a dice penalty on all attacks made against them. This penalty is doubled if the opponent is currently suffering initiative crash. Additionally, the Martial Artist can leverage the superior mobility afforded by dancing with a long pole and may treat all two-handed pole weapons like staves, long spears and halberds as form weapons for Monkey Style so long as Monkey Form remains active.

Special Activation Rules: If the Martial Artist successfully crashes a non-trivial opponent, they may reflexively activate Monkey Form.

Mocking Monkey’s ProvocationCost:3m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2Type: SimpleKeywords: NoneDuration: InstantPrerequisite Charms: Monkey FormThere are few who tolerate the unrefined and childish antics of the Monkey, but she cares less for their scorn than she does for their praise, inviting them to take her place atop the tree - if they can. The Martial Artist makes a [Manipulation + Presence] inspire action that, if successful, forces the target to attack the Martial Artist on their next available action. This effect cannot force an opponent to Join Battle or use a charm to give themselves an additional attack in combat, though doing so counts as attacking the Martial Artist for the purposes of this charm. Resisting this social action requires spending 2wp and opponents affected by the intimacy instilled by Monkey Form must spend 3wp.

Flowing Mirror of OppositionCost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3Type: SimpleKeywords:Uniform, Counterattack, Terrestrial, MasteryDuration:One RoundPrerequisite Charms:Panoply as Playground Antics, Mocking Monkey ProvocationEvery tricky Monkey exalts in the simplest pleasures, imitating their foe’s movements with their own silly embellishments and laughing endlessly when such a simple tactic trips their target up, falling flat on their face. When activating this charm, the Martial Artist selects one opponent at close range to imitate. Every time the selected target takes an action during the charm’s duration, the Martial Artist mimics their motions to a different beat; This is considered a special withering counterattack against the selected target that does not grant the Martial Artist any initiative from damage. This withering damage takes place before the resolution of the opponent’s action and if the Martial Artist crashes an opponent in this way, it is the opponent’s target that gains the break bonus.Terrestrial: This charm gains the Perilous keyword.Mastery:If the Martial Artist crashes any opponent with this charm while suffering from initiative crash they gain the benefits of initiative shift even if their target was not the opponent who crashed them.

Faultless Dodging MethodCost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3Type: ReflexiveKeywords:Withering-OnlyDuration: InstantPrerequisite Charms: Mocking Monkey ProvocationEveryone blames the Monkey when things get broken or fights break out between allies, but it's not his fault everyone else is so terrible at landing their hits! When the Martial Artist successfully defends against an attack using their Evasion they may elect another target within close range for the attack to strike instead with successes equal to the initial roll. This target may be any combatant in range, including allies, or any piece of scenery but may not be the character who is attacking.

Shining Trinket FascinationCost:6m; Mins:Martial Arts 4, Essence 3Type: ReflexiveKeywords:Terrestrial, MasteryDuration: InstantPrerequisite Charms:Flowing Mirror of OppositionThe Monkey has no need for such baubles and trinkets others adorn themselves with so readily, for he is handsome and wise and... very very curious. In response to an attack the Martial Artist applies their parry against, they may make a [Dexterity + Larceny] roll against the attacker’s evasion to pluck an item from their person, inspect it, and put it back - in a position more pleasing to the Martial Artist - subtracting their additional successes from the attacker’s roll. If the Martial Artist is aware of any intimacies the attacker possesses which would cause them to dislike the Martial Artist, they may add one non-charm dice to the roll for each intimacy known. The intimacy inflicted by Monkey Form always counts for this purpose, even if the Martial Artist has not made a read intentions action to reveal it.Terrestrial: The bonus dice added are considered dice added by a charm.Mastery: If the attacker has been inflicted by the intimacy from Monkey Form, they also subtract any 1’s or 2’s in their roll from their total successes.

Refined Monkey UnderstandingCost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3Type: SimpleKeywords:MasteryDuration: ScenePrerequisite Charms: Shining Trinket Fascination, Faultless Dodging MethodThe ultimate truth of the Monkey is its own impression of self, a divine state of perfect understanding that proves their own ideals and puts right all their wily wrongs; a state none would ever dare to acknowledge, but all secretly fear. Upon activating this charm, the Martial Artist may treat all two-handed pole weapons as having the traits of heavy artifact weapons. This includes weapons such as staves, long spears, halberds and improvised weapons of similar shape. Additionally, if an opponent afflicted by the intimacy created by Monkey Form witnesses this awakening, the intimacy is automatically upgraded to Major intensity. Additionally, if the Martial Artist successfully crashes any such afflicted opponent, it is automatically increased in intensity once more. This effect is not permanent but cannot be eroded until the end of the scene it is first inflicted, nor in any scene where this charm is activated. Mastery: If the Martial artist is able to incapacitate an opponent in battle, any existing intimacy created by Monkey Form is automatically changed to a tie of admiration and respect towards the martial artist at the same intensity. This intimacy cannot be eroded until the afflicted either defeats the Martial Artist in combat or witnesses their defeat at the hands of another.

Comment

Hi all,Monkey Weapons: Monkey Style is incompatible with all weapons and may only be practiced barehanded.

I'm sorry to say this, but any monkey style ever will not be a good style if it doesn't allow staves and wreckstaffs as style weapons :P Making it final Charm purchase doesn't really make it better ;-)

Panoply as Playground Antics - I would make it Action long, but once per scene.

I'm not exactly sure what Flowing Mirror of Opposition does - from what I understand it helps opponents beat your friends, because there is nothing about changing target of their hits. There should also be some way to stop Charm from working for enemies.

Comment

The weapons and armor thingy is frankly a hang up from the previous edition but with how many core styles uses weapons and armors, staffs and light armor seems appropriate for the monkey style at least.

Panoply as playground antics might be a little too much, at least not without mastery or terrestrial keywords for some restrictions.

1 like

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Mocking Monkey’s Provocation - Resisting this social action requires spending 2wp and opponents affected by the intimacy instilled by Monkey Form must spend 3wp. <- One willpower to resist. Willpower is much harder to come in 3rd Edition.

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I see some ebon claw combinations here, with the goading attackers and then making it look like they started the mess. Especially with the forms.

Hmm, it was not my intention that Mocking Monkey's Provocation could be used outside of combat - I'll add a 'cannot force to join battle' in there.

Originally posted by Daerian

I'm sorry to say this, but any monkey style ever will not be a good style if it doesn't allow staves and wreckstaffs as style weapons :P Making it final Charm purchase doesn't really make it better ;-)

Uh, there is almost nothing about the way a monkey attacks that has any similarity to long weapons and poles, It's about controlling the flow of combat through wily means because Monkeys are not powerful adversaries, they are tricky ones. Unlocking poles with the final charm was not a hold-over from Celestial Monkey Style, I added it in there because the journey of the style is slowly awakening to the Monkey's view of its idealized inner self and it unlocks stronger combinations with other styles that increase damage of attacks. This is the same reason I locked armour behind the capstone as well, there are enough defensive options to carry you through to the capstone without the need for armour and i didn't want it synergizing too well with other armoured styles that lack those defensive options, I'm actually considering removing that mastery effect entirely but it feels like it needs something there - I'll ruminate more.

So Basically; If you want to increase your offensive power with one style while defending with monkey, you need to go bare chested.

Originally posted by Daerian

Panoply as Playground Antics - I would make it Action long, but once per scene.

Ah! I see some of my original terminology bits made it past my second filter. Thanks. One Action it is (that's what I had intended initially). I'll go ahead and figure out a reset condition.

Originally posted by Daerian

I'm not exactly sure what Flowing Mirror of Opposition does - from what I understand it helps opponents beat your friends, because there is nothing about changing target of their hits. There should also be some way to stop Charm from working for enemies.

You... aren't attacking your friend...? I'll need to clarify this. The charm is a withering attack against your target that saps them of initiative. If your opponent is withering your friend you can't stop them from making their attack but you reduce their overall initiative. Against a decisive attack is severely hampers their potential damage. the crash bonus is icing on the cake.

Originally posted by Daerian

Faultless Dodging Method - I think Withering-Only is correct.

Agreed!

Originally posted by Daerian

But why are there no magical virtue groinshots!

*Takes A deep breath* Because I find that silly - and punching virtues has nothing to do with monkeys.

Originally posted by Eltacolibre

The weapons and armor thingy is frankly a hang up from the previous edition but with how many core styles uses weapons and armors, staffs and light armor seems appropriate for the monkey style at least.

Nope, not a hang up - see above. I had my own reasons for it.

Originally posted by Eltacolibre

Panoply as playground antics might be a little too much, at least not without mastery or terrestrial keywords for some restrictions.

Vote +1 Reset condition.

Thanks everyone, I'll make the current changes then start going through the other styles to find broken synergies.

Comment

Uh, there is almost nothing about the way a monkey attacks that has any similarity to long weapons and poles, It's about controlling the flow of combat through wily means because Monkeys are not powerful adversaries, they are tricky ones. Unlocking poles with the final charm was not a hold-over from Celestial Monkey Style, I added it in there because the journey of the style is slowly awakening to the Monkey's view of its idealized inner self and it unlocks stronger combinations with other styles that increase damage of attacks. This is the same reason I locked armour behind the capstone as well, there are enough defensive options to carry you through to the capstone without the need for armour and i didn't want it synergizing too well with other armoured styles that lack those defensive options, I'm actually considering removing that mastery effect entirely but it feels like it needs something there - I'll ruminate more.

There is still however the most know monkey based character, Sun Wukong with his staff that most people instantly think about when looking at Monkey Style ;-) Similarly with his golden mail and medium armor.

You... aren't attacking your friend...? I'll need to clarify this. The charm is a withering attack against your target that saps them of initiative. If your opponent is withering your friend you can't stop them from making their attack but you reduce their overall initiative. Against a decisive attack is severely hampers their potential damage. the crash bonus is icing on the cake.

I understand this one intent, however I really think that wording has to be better.

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Withering Paw StrikeCost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1Type: SimpleKeywords: Decisive-Only, MasteryDuration: InstantPrerequisite Charms: Monkey Tail Distraction Strike
A monkey is tricky and crude, but never dishonorable - for that would be a flaw! Their opponents may come at them with weapons in hand but the noble monkey corrects their mistake for them, it's only fair after all. This charm is a special disarm gambit that, if successful, can hurl the target’s weapon out to short range or drive it into the ground, a piece of scenery, or tangle it in something at close range. Retrieving a weapon so embedded or tangled requires a difficulty 2 feat of strength.Mastery: The Martial Artist adds their essence score to the difficulty of the feat of strength to retrieve the embedded or tangled weapon. If the Martial Artist chooses to hurl the weapon away instead, it is flung to medium range.

Flurry of August Leaves
Cost:3m, 1wp; Mins:Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type:Supplemental
Keywordsecisive-only
Duration:Instant
Prerequisite Charmsreaming Pearl
Courtesan Form
Just as there is beauty in the budding and blossoming of flowers in the springtime seasons, so too is there a melancholy elegance in the fall of leaves as the autumnal seasons come in turn. It is with this mournful grace that the Dreaming Pearl Courtesan dispatches her victims. The Flurry of August Leaves enhances an attack based on the tags of the weapon used to make it. If the weapon has multiple valid tags, the martial artist can only choose one of the available options.

• Clearing the Banquet Table (Disarming):A successful disarm gambit allows the martial artist to fling her enemy’s weapon out to medium range (or long range, with Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form active). The Initiative cost of the gambit is waived.

So, Flurry of Leaves is essence 2, but it also waives an initiative cost of a gambit (and a myriad of other things; but i think that qualifies it to be essence 2 rather than essence 1).
I guess my question is- does the price match up? I think Withering paw strike should be less motes, or just 1WP in order to balance its effect against other martial arts.

Suggestion- maybe make Paw Strike a counterattack with a success based disarm effect? That would certainly justify a WP cost to activate. Also, consider stacking the difficulty 2 strength to retrieve a weapon. I as a player with high strength would certainly use this cunning tactic to disarm a foe and create Excalibur. :P Whoever pulls that weapon out is CERTAINLY a foe worthy of facing ME. (cheeky monkey dance)

- Snake form - can't have both active at the same time, and while I can see an easy switch between forms via the special activation I don't yet see any particular advantage to doing so.

- Armor-Penetrating Fang Strike; nice synergy to increase some damage though expensive would make a good opening combo with Distracted Monkey's Countermeasure.

- Crippling Pressure-point Strike; No synergy. Confirms that I shouldn't have made Foe's Hand Emptying Paw a supplemental.

- Essence Fangs and Scales Technique; aaaaaand here's where switching between Monkey Form and Snake form can be an awesome combo... I like and don't think it's broken considering the cost of doing so. Using Monkey to force someone into crash (especially if you can pull off the Shift with Flowing Mirror) and rolling into Snake Form for a big decisive finisher

- Uncoiling Serpent Prana; With this and Mocking Monkey's Provocation you can be quite the battlefield controller, especially tied with Faultless dodging Method and anything that buffs their evasion. Still not breaking anything I don't think, but it certainly opens up your options.

- Snake Strikes the Heel; Clashing Ranged enemies is essence 2, eh? it even robs you of the reaped initiative... hmmm... might need to tune Distracted Monkey's Countermeasure to be similar (but different!) and then pop in a reset condition so it's not confined to the opening turn. good thing you can't stack clash charms. Also.. does Snake Strikes the Heel let you clash attacks that aren't directed at you? It seems to - a question for the question thread.

- Countless Coils Evasion; I like this as a defense charm, it doesn't directly synergise with Monkey but it does plug a fairly large hole (I left decisive defenses open) so long as the Monkey doesn't pick up a staff or pole weapon.. I think I might have to specify that seven-section staves don't count as form weapons for Monkey I had forgotten they were a thing.

- Essence Venom Strike; no direct synergies; but a Flowing Mirror shift into snake form followed by this charm enhanced with Striking Cobra would be fearsome; takes a bit of set up though so I wouldn't call it broken.

Overall: A Snake user would have to forgo light armour at first (-3/5 soak) and can't really take advantage of any of the soak boosters in the style without switching out forms. As it is, Monkey can set up Snake for its big strikes fairly well and all the defensive charms in both trees work well to keep you alive even without armour.

Side Note: I renamed all the charms from Celestial Monkey except Flowing Mirror, haven't come up with anything for that yet.

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Tiger Notes;
- Crimson Leaping Cat Technique; No direct synergies, the supplemental movement and added accuracy can certainly benefit some monkey charms but it would do the same to pretty much any style.

- Striking Fury Claws; a nice damage booster that plugs a hole for the weaponless monkey but doesn't synergise with an armed Monkey - this is something I anticipated and I'm glad to see its worked but we'll see how it holds against other damage boosters.

- Tiger Form; No synergies - special activation does't come into play with Monkey antics but you might be able to lead into Monkey with Tiger, I'll keep an eye on this.

- Celestial Tiger Hide; Soak booster that synergises fine so long as the Monkey doesn't pick up a weapon or wear medium armour.

- Raging Tiger Pounce; This could be dangerous combined with Distracted Monkey's Countermeasure, knocking close range opponents prone in the first round then going full Tiger Style on them to tear them apart.

- Spine shattering Bite; Monkey can be used to set this up, possibly even bouncing from Monkey to Snake and really messing up a crashed opponent that manages to survive.

- Stalking Cat Movement Meditation; Wow, this synergises well with Snake for zone control and adding Monkey on top means it's really hard for people to get away from the Martial Artist and if they dare try they get hit harder and harder.

- Leap From Cloaking Shadows; Bwuah... it's a good thing Mocking Monkey's Provocation is a simple charm. This is the same combo from Stalking Cat Movement Meditation but adds to it to be deadlier - if you could provoke enemies outside of your turn with Monkey there would be zero chance of getting away.

- Angry Predator Frenzy; Okay so, the charm can only be activated alongside Tiger Form but it doesn't say that it drops off when the form charm is dropped which gives it great potential as a scene long buff. Mainly Monkey's want the decisive boost from here which is something they lack but the zone control with reflexive rushes is insane when combined with Snake and Monkey.

Overview; Tiger and Snake already synergize well for Zone control and Monkey has a few extra tricks to add to it, building initiative for the other two style's charms to capitalize on with their big decisives. On it's own though, tiger and Monkey don't have much to offer each other for direct synergies, but they do almost the opposite of each other, plugging holes for each style. Nothing breaks though, so so far so good.

Angry Predator Method has given me a few ideas to change up the Monkey Capstone though.

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Skipped over Single Point Shining into the Void style as it's impossible to synergise due to weapon restrictions.

White Reaper;

- Falling Scythe Flash; Damage enhancer compatible with both armed and unarmed Monkeys, certainly helps drive opponents into crash which is where Monkey shines, especially when armed, it's a little on the expensive side when combined with any monkey withering attacks though, not something you can do turn after turn.

- Revolving Crescent Defense; I.. uh... I didn't know this existed... crap. I really liked Panoply as Playground antics too... I think I'll have to come up with something entirely different or find a way to make it sufficiently different. Thoughts for later...

- White Reaper Form; Hmmm. The way this is written makes it sound like the rest of the style mostly benefits from having Halos which i assume disappear if you drop the form though it doesn't say they do. You at least can't generate halos without it active and the special activation rule doesn't lend well to sliding between styles to gain more - this looks like White Reaper would be the setup style for Monkey compared to Tiger and Snake above where the reverse was true.

- Bleeding Crescent Strike; Ooo, accuracy booster that breaks cap. the bonus afforded by the halos is nice but not necessary. a Monkey would love to supplement its attacks with this; he doesn't have similar effects so its a welcome addition but doesn't break anything.

- Greatest Killer Attitude; We've been pretty offensive heavy so far and this is another damage booster which is something that really helps out the Monkey Stylist, even better it's compatible with the monkey form weapons from Refined Monkey Understanding and armour upgrade... hmmm... Again the Halo bonus is nice, but not worth ignoring the charm without it.

- Enemies Like Grass; yup, more offense which Monkey wants, even better, since white Reaper can be used unarmed this can be substituted for Snake in the Monkey crash, Snake shift, Tiger ripping combo from before. Good thing they can't both be used at the same time.

- Flickering Corona Barrier; A nice defensive charm that can help buff up Shining Trinket Fascination more, not that it needs it... maybe I should take away some of that charm's toys.

- Impenetrable White Shroud; Defensive boost that requires more set up from Reaper Style to fully take advantage of - covers form Monkey gaps or provides a great boon to an armoured monkey.

- Snow Follows Winter; Since it requires Reaper Form it's not that great for a dedicated Monkey fighter, but the myriad Monkey charms can support a dedicated Reaper well enough. I haven't found many double-up effects yet it mostly looks like Monkey plugs holes or Monkey's hols are plugged.

Overview; Most of the effects that use Halos are good enough without them to be worth picking up and this tree is highly offensive which benefits the Monkey a lot, especially when armed. I can't see any shattering combos though, it would all be about not taking hits and dealing large amounts of damage. A straight-forward strategy, but effective.